Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Barber: Satan Behind Boy Scouts Decision

Well you knew this was inevitable, didn’t you? Whenever anything happens that the Christian right doesn’t like, they have a handy dandy explanation for it all: Satan did it. So you know that Satan must be behind the Boy Scouts of America decision to possibly allow gay teens to join up. After all, Matt Barber says so:

The Prince of the Earth seeks to corrupt and ultimately destroy all that is righteous, honorable and good. It’s little wonder, then, that for years the Boy Scouts have faced a malicious and unrelenting assault at the hands of those “who call evil good and good evil.”

These attacks have played out in both the federal courts and in the court of public opinion. Still, notwithstanding multiple decisive victories at the U.S. Supreme Court, left-wing bullies appear to have worn the BSA leadership down to such point that this hitherto honorable organization is seriously deliberating a move most dishonorable.

If the BSA, with its proud tradition of teaching millions of young boys how to become honorable young men, gives in on this, the organization is toast. Oh, it might limp along as something else – something entirely different, worldly and weak – but its long history as an upright, ethical and God-honoring safe-haven for boys will come to a disgraceful close.

What they’re really saying: The Boy Scouts teach young men how to be good citizens and it is absolutely vital that they not be around any gay people in the process. Because they might get cooties. Or something. And I wish I had such a convenient entity to blame every bad thing on, don’t you?

Comments

What they’re really saying: The Boy Scouts teach young men how to be good citizens and it is absolutely vital that they not be around any gay people in the process. Because they might get cooties they might find out that they are just regular people.

Had a great high school teacher, found out years later he was gay. I’m sure it shaped my attitude.

You know where the wish to have a convenient entity to blame every bad thing on comes from, don’t you? That’s right. It’s of the devil.

He knows how to temp our weak natures.

Really, I’d love to know if people who think this way believe that Satan has ever succeeded in getting someone damned who — without his wicked intervention — would have otherwise been saved. For if he has, then the devil is able to thwart the will of God; and if he hasn’t (and couldn’t) — then what the hell is the POINT? Aesthetics?

SexualityEarly discussion of Baden-Powell’s sexuality focused on his relationship with his close friend Kenneth McLaren.[47]:217–218[48]:48 Tim Jeal’s later biography discusses the relationship and finds that there is no conclusive evidence that this friendship was physical.[7]:82 Jeal then examines Baden-Powell’s views on women, his appreciation of the male form, his military relationships, and his marriage, concluding that Baden-Powell might have been a repressed homosexual.[7]:103 Jeal’s conclusion is shared by some biographers and disputed by others, but is not yet examined in any detail by other scholars.[49]:6

It’s not clear that Lord Baden Powell, founder of the scouts was gay. Or not. Or at least that is what the Fount of A Lot of Knowledge says.

“Oh, it might limp along as something else – something entirely different, worldly and weak – but its long history as an upright, ethical and God-honoring safe-haven for boys will come to a disgraceful close.”

I will never understand how believers in an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient god can believe that god was evil enough or stupid enough to create a virtually equal rival (Satan) whom he is impotent to control or destroy.

If the BSA, with its proud tradition of teaching millions of young boys how to become honorable young men, gives in on this, the organization is toast.

I’m surprised he didn’t say “milquetoast”.

Like Mr. Ed, I had a high school teacher who was generally acknowledged to be gay. He was also (earlier), my scoutmaster! This was in the early-mid 1960’s, so “out” was not an option. He would chaperone the high school dances; all the girls liked to dance with him, presumably because they saw him as “safe” and he was good at it!

I didn’t know this teacher was gay until a few years later when someone killed him at a gay pick up spot. my point being that homosexuals are just regular people. They are not are not some perverted lecherous beast from a jack Chick tract, and in most cases you can’t spot them in a crowd.

I figured out that I was gay when I was 11. This was in 1960. We had just moved into a new neighborhood in Chicago and I transferred to a new school. There was an active Boy Scout troop at school. The boys that were Scouts caused the most trouble in school. They talked about sex all of the time and were the worst racists in a school that reeked racism. I wanted nothing to do with them.
When I got to high school, in another blue collar community, I had three gay teachers who mentored me for four years. There was never a hint of anything sexual. I was already good at spotting other gay males. I think they all recognized that I was gay but they also realized that I was highly intelligent and they fostered that. I learned an incredible amount of factual information from them but I also learned that being gay was okay. One of them was my German teacher. With his guidance I was able to cover two years of material in one year and I went on to major in German in college.
I later ran into all three of them in gay situations. I met the German teacher at a gay bar in 1971 but he was too drunk to talk to. He died the next year. The second one I also ran into at a bar in 1980. I thanked him for all he did. The third I met at a church service but I ddn’t recognize him. Someone later told me who he was. He,too. died the next year.
I have read on several gay blogs that there was a lot of sex going on at Scout campouts, mostly among straight Scouts who were discovering their sexuality. Nothing is going to change if Scouts admit gay members and leaders. I think Scouts have more to worry about with straight, married men, like Jerry Sandusky, running troops than having an openly gay scout or leader.

If the BSA, with its proud tradition of teaching millions of young boys how to become honorable young men, gives in on this, the organization is toast. Oh, it might limp along as something else – something entirely different, worldly and weak – but its long history as an upright, ethical and God-honoring safe-haven for boys will come to a disgraceful close.

Is he talking about the Roman Catholic Church? Because it sure sounds like he’s talking about the Roman Catholic Church.

I have a number of books about Baden-Powell, I’m a long time Scouter volunteer, Scoutmaster and all that, and an Eagle Scout. So, full disclosure.

My take on BP is that he was a Peter Pan. He loved to have fun, reveled in his youth and basically never “grew up” in he sense of a serious, no fun sort of guy.

He loved theater, dressing up, role playing, pranks, jokes and just having fun! He was an ideal Scoutmaster from that perspective of being to relate to the boys on a fun level.

After the first World Jamboree in London in 1921 which brought together Scouts from around the world, BP thought that Scouting could bring about world peace. After all, all the youth got along, why not as adults.

It was the onset of WW2 that broke BP and shattered his dreams.

Anyway, BP, I think from my reading, was neither concerned about sex nor religion which makes all the brouhaha in the USA so laughable. BP would have thought, WTF?

These attacks have played out in both the federal courts and in the court of public opinion.

In other words, he doesn’t give a damn if homophobia is either legal or popular. He and the rest of the Talibangelicals are claiming the right to dictate morality to everyone else. Can stoning and beheading be far behind?

Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

Wait, is he suggesting that governments should regulate international trade, including the international arms trade? But… but… Freedom! Capitalism! Liberty! Right to bear arms! Let the invisible hand of the market sort it all out!